VOL. 23, ENGL492
LONDON, UK, SPR 2020
MONSTERS IN LONDON by Emma Miller
Capturing London on Film by Mady Edmonds
“Draw a monster. Why is it a monster?” - Janice Lee Despite the common, misguided assertion that monsters are monstrous, in reality, they are just like you and me and all of us humans. They eat food. They’re materialistic. They go shopping. And yet there exists only one shop for monsters. This miracle is the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies in London at 59 Hoxton St, Hoxton Established in 1818, they have built a loyal and diverse customer base, from vampires to werewolves to dragons, through excellent service over the centuries (their site can fulfill online orders for the international monsters). These monsters have a clear charitable side, with all shop profits going to the Ministry of Stories, a creative writing and mentorship charity for children. The shop offers o a wide array of goods, including: FOOD such as these (tinned fear tastes like hard candy, werewolf food tastes like shortbread):
PHARMACY and LIFESTYLE items like salt made from tears of sorrow (tastes like salt and lavender) and daylight for vampires (solar-powered for the pasty people):
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During my junior year of high school, I found my schedule especially lackluster. It was full of STEM and AP courses that would benefit me in the long run, but there was nothing to fulfill my more creative side. I had two options - an intro to darkroom photography class, and weights. Thankfully, I took a chance on darkroom photography, which turned into taking advanced darkroom photography and being a teacher’s-aid. In my last year of high school, I spent just as much time in the darkroom as I did onstage (which is saying quite a lot). Something about the soothing red lights, the white noise of running water, and the rocking of chemical bins became my safe space from the overwhelming pressures of the future. In those moments, it was just me and my photographs. I enjoy the intentional labor of love that each photograph demands - setting the aperture and shutter speed, focusing the lens, loading the film, and finally developing and printing each image. When you know you only have a finite number of frames, what you choose to take pictures of becomes more deliberate. You can’t erase a photo and simply try again: you have one chance to get the shot you want. It is enough of a risk to get my adrenaline pumping and my mind reeling with anticipation. London is the textbook definition of photogenic, which is why I was so excited to shoot film photography while we were there. Having spent a solid half of my high school career with my photography teacher, Mrs. Bock graciously allowed me to loan out a Pentax with sixty frames of film. There was just too much potential in London to not take the opportunity. The photograph doesn’t have to be of iconic locations like the London Eye or Big Ben; a three hundred year old church or a garden in the middle of a block of Victorian houses will do just fine. You could go from one area of London to the next and be able to take completely different photographs, which is what I loved the most. We could start out in Kensington, with it’s lovely historic houses and posh energy, and end up in Soho, with its thriving cultural scene and crowds everywhere. I never ended up with a picture quite like the others. As with everything in the past month, Coronavirus has of course put a damper on the project - I was hoping to be able to develop and print once we got back to Kansas, but as the only darkroom I had access to is now closed, the film is still sitting in my 35mm Pentax camera, waiting to be brought to light. There is still hope, as I may yet be able to either develop the film myself or send it in for printing, although it won’t quite be the same. Luckily, we do have the technology to mimic this kind of art, so I was able to mess around and create some similar shots to what I hope the film will turn out looking like. Although the fruits of my labor may not become realized right away, in the end it’s all about thoughtfully taking the time to choose each frame wisely in order to bring a still image to life.